Arts

The world’s longest running musical, The Fantasticks, is now playing through August 5 at Palm Beach’s longest residing professional theatre, Palm Beach Dramaworks.

The musical tells the story of two fathers living next door to each other, who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into falling in love. They believe that the children won’t fall in love unless that love is forbidden. So the fathers construct a wall between their houses, and fabricate a family feud.

The off-Broadway musical comedy features two well-known songs “Try to Remember" and “Soon It's Gonna Rain.” The story is simple and sweet, and both Matt (Jacob Heimer) and Luisa (Jennifer Molly Bell) give outstanding performances.

There must be reason why the show has lasted so long. Perhaps because at the very heart of it, it’s a timeless love tale that never gets old – or loses its relevance.

According the New York Times The Fantasticks is one of the most widely produced shows in the world, with more than 11,000 productions in 3,000 cities in all 50 states, as well as in 67 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Besides being a simple story, it has the barest of sets and only a two-member band making it easy to reproduce.

The show originally opened in 1960, and ran for a record-setting 17,162 performances before it closed in 2002. It was then revived in 2006 and continues today off-Broadway.

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